American officials criticized the Vietnamese government on Tuesday for its new limits on political dissent on the Internet, citing a decree that appears to restrict people from sharing news articles on social media and personal Web sites.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) led by Secretary Albert del Rosario and the Vietnamese delegation led by Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh will also tackle defense mechanisms and initiatives in the area.

WASHINGTON — Bearing a copy of a letter from Ho Chi Minh to Harry S. Truman, the president of Vietnam met President Obama on Thursday and pledged to deepen trade and military ties with the United States even as they tangled over human rights.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: It is my pleasure to welcome President Truong Tan Sang to the White House and to the Oval Office for his first bilateral meeting with me. This represents the steady progression and strengthening of the relationship between our two countries.

A standard feature of communist press such as that of Vietnam is the “guiding role” of the Party’s Propaganda Department. Every week, this agency holds a meeting in Hanoi with the editors-in-chief of all major newspapers, in which it provides feedbacks and rebuke the media for what they have done in the previous week. The same meeting is held in Ho Chi Minh City by the local Propaganda Department and things are the same for other provinces and cities across Vietnam.

Nguyên Hoang Duc, literary critic and former civil servant, blocked at the boarding gate. He was expected in Rome, on official invitation, for the closing ceremony of the diocesan inquiry. A meeting with the Cardinal began his journey of conversion which resulted in his baptism. The Communist Government wants to hinder the process.

In June, The Asia Foundation hosted U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, David B. Shear, at its headquarters in San Francisco. In Asia editor Alma Freeman sat down with him to discuss expanding economic and diplomatic ties, negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, progress in human rights, and Vietnam’s lively but circumscribed social media landscape.

A court in southern Vietnam on Thursday sentenced two young activists to several years in prison for distributing “anti-government” leaflets, in a trial relatives and rights groups condemned as unfair and aimed at silencing dissent in the one-party state.

At least one Vietnamese satellite TV company stopped airing international channels including BBC and CNN on Thursday, citing a law that foreign governments have warned would result in international news and entertainment channels ending their broadcasts in a country increasingly cracking down on freedom of expression.